Education ministry offers new school bus funds

B.C. school districts have until Sept. 30 to apply for a new $14.7 million fund to assist with student bus service.

Education Minister Mike Bernier announced the fund Wednesday. It requires districts to submit a plan on how the money will be used to “boost transportation services,” by adding new routes, improving disability access and bus stops or improving access to public transit.

But the criteria also include “funding existing transportation services and inviting the savings into enhanced student services,” according to the ministry statement. That would make the grant effectively part of the district’s general revenue.

To qualify, school districts would have to drop fees charged to parents for school bus service. Fees have been charged in Central Okanagan, Chilliwack, Langley, Maple Ridge, Peace River North, Sooke, Saanich and Cowichan school districts.

It’s the third funding injection for schools in recent months. As the school year wound down in June, Bernier announced another $2 million fund where districts could apply to keep rural schools open that were scheduled to be closed.

Bernier also announced this spring he was reinstating $25 million in administration savings required from districts. Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows had eliminated its school bus service and planned to use the administrative fund to bring it back on a trial basis, with fees increased from $215 per student to $416.

Abbotsford school district voted this spring to increase its fees by $100 to $400 per student and $600 per family.

The school bus funding formula is weighted towards districts with large rural areas. Cariboo-Chilcotin is eligible for the largest amount at $739,024, followed by Prince George at $687,663, Kamloops-Thompson at $666,817, Central Okanagan at $600,000, Coast Mountains at $557,786, North Okanagan-Shuswap at $561, 925 and Nechako Lakes at $503,247.